Bank Fraud: Bengaluru banker arrested for diverting Rs 5.7 crore to girlfriend

New Delhi: For allegedly diverting Rs 5.7 crore to his girlfriend, whom he met on a dating app, the branch manager of the Indian Bank branch in Bengaluru's Hanumanthanagar was recently detained. The culprit, Hari Shankar, was given a 10-day police custody following a complaint from the zonal manager of Indian Bank.

Additionally, assistant branch manager Kausalya Jerai and clerk Muniraju, two of Shankar's coworkers, have been listed as suspects by the police in a FIR. The suspected fraud allegedly occurred between May 13 and May 19, according to police sources. Shankar said during the interview that he lost the money to online scammers who tricked him into using a dating app, and the police are checking his statements.

The police claim that a female customer made a fixed deposit of Rs 1.3 crore in her name and, using that amount as collateral, obtained a loan for Rs 75 lakh. The customer provided the necessary paperwork, but it is claimed that the accused staff tampered with it and used it as collateral to issue Rs. 5.7 crore as overdraft in several installments.

The bank, after conducting an internal investigation, found that the money was transferred in 136 transactions to 28 accounts at various West Bengaln banks and two accounts in Karnataka. Two of Shankar's coworkers are being questioned since it is suspected that he employed them improperly to commit the scam.

The investigation further showed that Rs 12.5 lakh of Hari Shankar's personal funds were moved to the accounts before these transactions happened. A bank account where Rs 7 lakh was improperly transferred has been frozen by Indian Bank.